Effect of Warm Spring and Arinta Waterfall on Ikogosi and Ipole–Iloro Communities Ekiti State, Nigeria.

Abstract

This study investigates the effect of warm spring and waterfall on Ikogosi and Ipole-Iloro communities, Ekiti State, Nigeria. Tourism has profound effect on the local community of its destination, as it brings economic and socio-cultural changes. The broad objectives of this study are to identify the existing facilities vis-à-vis the problems confronting the tourist centres, investigate the utilization of the facilities and effects of these tourist centres on the host communities. The research methods include in-depth fieldwork, observation, questionnaire administration, interviews, collation and processing of field data. The research instrument was the questionnaire administered with the aid of simple random sampling. Four hundred and two (402) copies of the questionnaire were administered on the residents of the two communities, while (149) copies of the second set of questionnaire were administered on the tourists. Interview was conducted with the staff of the resorts as well as officials of the Ekiti State Tourism Board. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse data collected for the study. The result of the study revealed that Arinta Waterfalls in Ipole-Iloro-Ekiti was an attractive tourist destination. However, it was observed that the level of awareness of the tourist centres to the general public is relatively poor and the tourist centre is underdeveloped. The result shows that the community members blamed the lack of development and public awareness of the resort on the government. The research also revealed that Ikogosi warm spring in Ikogosi-Ekiti is naturally endowed and fairly developed. The tourist centre has positively influenced the community for developments. Also the Gossy brand spring Water Company and hotels are some of the employment contributions of the tourist centre to the residents of the town. It was also found that the tourist centre had positive impact on the standard of living of the residents. Some of the major problems identified were poor management of the existing facilities, inadequate provision of recreational facilities, and poor conditions of infrastructural facilities in the entire communities such as roads and pipe borne water. The research recommends media awareness and publicity, effective coordination of all agencies for proper maintenance of the facilities, improvement of the transportation facilities and public and private partnership in development of these tourist centres. If these recommendations can be followed, the Ikogosi warm spring and Arinta waterfall will be attractive tourist destinations in years to come. These will assist to boost the socio-economic development of the communities.